1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a keyboard apparatus and more particularly to technology suitably used for a keyboard apparatus the operation side of which can be illuminated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional keyboard includes, for example, a keyboard body in which numerous key switches are mounted, and a case which internally houses and holds the keyboard and from which the keytops of the key switches are exposed so that they can be manipulated. As the case, for example, a case consisting of a combination of an upper case and a lower case is adopted wherein the upper case covers the top face of the keyboard body and has window portions to expose a large number of keytops, and the lower case covers the bottom face of the keyboard body. The keyboard body has several types of key groups each having a different function such as normal input keys, ten-keys, function keys, and the like wherein these key groups are separated from each other by beam portions between the window portions of the upper case and placed at some distance away from each other.
In such a keyboard, there have been cases where only specific keys such as, e.g., a CAPS key are provided inside the relevant keytops with a lighting means such as LED (light-emitting diode) so that they can be lighted.
However, recently, with widespread use of portable personal computers such as a notebook-sized personal computer in which a keyboard and a computer body are integrated, the portable personal computers have been widely used among general users as communication terminals for Internet, electronic mails, and the like. In such a situation, there may be a case where the keyboard of a portable personal computer or the like is manipulated when the surroundings are dark and short of sufficient light, e.g., during travelling. There has been a problem in that the key positions of the keyboard are difficult to recognize in such a case.
The provision of a lighting means such as LED inside a keytop has been made to indicate the state of specific operations (e.g., ON/OFF state of a CAPS key), not to illuminate the operation side of the keyboard, therefore not providing a solution to the above problem.
Furthermore, there is an increasing demand to differentiate products by placing greater emphasis on design attributes such as appearance than on functionability in both of notebook-sized personal computers and desktop personal computers.